Pacific Sea Urchin Physiology and Growth Under Climate Stress, 2011

A 2011 experiment grew 72 adult Echinometra sp. A sea urchins under four temperature (28/31°C) and pH (7.9/8.1) treatments for 70 days to simulate near-future ocean conditions. Data includes initial and final wet weights, diameters, righting times, and calculated growth percentages for individuals across three replicate aquaria per treatment. The dataset was collected at Rib Reef on the Great Barrier Reef and is associated with research from the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Modeling growth rate responses based on temperature and pH treatment combinations.
• Analyzing righting behavior as a proxy for physiological stress based on the 'righting time' metric.
• Investigating correlations between initial size metrics ('wt_weight_initial', 'diameter_initial') and subsequent growth under stress.
• Assessing individual variability in physiological responses within controlled aquarium replicates.

Strengths

• Includes data for 72 individual sea urchins across 12 aquaria (3 replicates per treatment).
• Provides multiple physiological measurements per individual: weight, diameter, and righting time.
• Experimental design uses four specific treatment combinations (28/7.9, 28/8.1, 31/7.9, 31/8.1) to isolate interactive effects.
• Data collection followed a standardized 70-day protocol with a 24-hour starvation period before weight measurements.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent for some fields ('Columns: unknown'); field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data reflects a specific geographic and temporal context (Rib Reef, Great Barrier Reef, September-November 2011).

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au

Collection Method

Controlled laboratory experiment with sea urchins collected from Rib Reef, Great Barrier Reef.

Time Range

Experiment conducted from 21 September 2011 for 77 days.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 20:09:28.111562; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Specimens collected from Rib Reef (146°52.49' E, 18°28.86' S), central Great Barrier Reef, Australia.